Podcast

The number of underrepresented minorities and women in business school is significantly low compared to other professional degree programs such as medical and law schools. Join us as we learn what schools are doing to attract more minority students, why more aren’t pursuing MBAs, why recruiters are looking to hire minority MBAs, and hear about the various scholarships available.

Guests Include:

Sonali Aggarwal and Hilary Halper, Co-Chairs of Tuck Women in Business

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Welcome to MBA Podcaster—the only broadcast source for cutting-edge information and advice on the MBA application process. I’m Janet Nakano. Business schools are working hard to increase the number of minorities into their programs—targeting mainly Hispanics, African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—but progress is slow. Studies say minorities make up only 7% of top MBA programs compared to 15% at top medical and law schools. Meanwhile, women, typically, make up less than a third of a class. This time, we’ll talk about what holds back minorities and women from pursuing an MBA, and we’ll also go over the variety of resources and programs available for minorities. You’ll hear from a dean, two women MBA students, and the heads of a couple of MBA outreach organizations.

In today’s multi-cultural, national, and multi-lingual market, it’s no wonder top companies are looking to diversify their staff. Business schools are motivated, too. They’ve teamed up with outreach organizations to offer information sessions, seminars, scholarships, and fellowships just for minorities. According to AACSB International—the business school accrediting organization—only 5% of U.S. MBA students are Hispanic-Americans, while less than 2% of business school professors are Hispanics. Stephanie Herrera is Denver Chapter President of the National Society of Hispanic MBA’s. The organization has over 6,000 members and 29 chapters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Herrera says the main reason why Hispanics don’t pursue an MBA is because of the lack of financial aid.

“Because everybody knows when you get up into the higher graduate degrees, there’s not a lot of financial aid. You get much more support—especially from the government—at an undergraduate level. If you go through the traditional financial aid system PELL grants, they don’t give you PELL grants for an MBA. So, a lot of times, people are very dependent upon the system when they are going for their undergraduate degree. And then, when they go for their Master’s, they don’t see a lot of financing options besides student loans. So then, one of our jobs with the National Society of Hispanic MBA’s is to help them find the resources and to give away scholarships. This year we gave away 1 million dollars in scholarships.”

The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management awards more than 350 minority fellowships each year. The National Black MBA Association also has scholarships available. Herrera says it’s not just that MBA’s are tough to afford. Hispanics and other under-represented minorities don’t have a clear sense of what a business degree will bring.

“A lot of families who haven’t had access to the education system always question, ‘Why do you need this education? You’re losing money. You’re working part-time. Where’s it going to get you in the future?’ But, a lot of times, people don’t know what the financial impact can have once they do receive their MBA’s.”

It’s obvious that when you go to medical school you become a doctor. But it’s not so easy to say that when you go to business school you become a businessman or woman. You could be an investment banker, lead a non-profit organization, or start your own business. Keisha Dawn Entzminger is Founder and Executive Director of MBA Diversity—an organization that supports present and future multi-cultural business professionals. Entzminger says having role models for minorities is key.

“When I was applying to business schools, definitely, one of the concerns was where the mentors and the role models were to effectively articulate to us what opportunities were available out there. You see the IB people coming. You see the MC people coming—of course, investment banking and management consulting people are coming to recruit general management roles. But you didn’t necessarily see the varied opportunities that there were out there. Not everyone wants to take on those traditional roles. So, I definitely think that’s one of the challenges that we’re facing today that MBA Diversity is trying to fill with our national symposium. It’s just, basically, trying to communicate all the different opportunities that there are out there for people who have their MBA’s.”

Despite strides made through various outreach programs, still Hispanics, African-Americans, and American Indians are scarce at the top—leaving minority youth to wonder how they can become an executive or if it’s even possible. That’s why mentoring young minorities is an important program at the National Society of Hispanic MBA’s says Stephanie Herrera. She’s currently mentoring ten undergraduate students.

“Make sure that they study for the GMAT, help them with the GMAT questions, help them with their entrance exam essays, finding scholarships, financial aid—it runs the gammit. We took undergraduate students looking at obtaining their MBA’s to MIT. And it was just very awesome what happened to them because a lot of them didn’t even know about an MBA or what an MBA could do for them. So, it’s very interesting. I have one very good success story. He was going to go to Paris with his graduation money, and he decided not to go to Paris, and he decided to spend his money on a GMAT-preparation course and to travel to the colleges to see where he wanted to go to school.”

And is he going to an MBA program now? “We’re in the process of choosing where he wants to go to school. But he never knew he had the options. He never knew MIT wanted him so that he could go to these other colleges. And it’s just wonderful to see what happened to these students because they’re applying for all these Ivy League schools and other colleges.”

Getting a good score on the GMAT is yet another barrier for minorities says Herrera. “We aren’t necessarily 100% in math, or 100% in science, or haven’t been groomed as our competition for these MBA programs to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to Harvard, MIT, Stamford.’ A lot of times, we find that students—such as myself—don’t know when they start their college career that they’re going to complete their MBA.”

The National Society of Hispanic MBA’s offers programs to help with the GMAT. MBA Diversity also offers GMAT scholarships.

A women’s student organization at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College called “Tuck Women in Business” is providing networking and mentoring opportunities as well as career development support and hosts an annual conference. Sonali Aggarwal is Co-chairwoman. “Throughout the year, we will sponsor female executives and leaders to visit Tuck. In addition, we will have different panels and dinners with different companies with different industries. And the real purpose of the organization is to provide a forum for women to get career development advice, and professional development, and reach out to alumni as well. One program that we actually re-instated this year is a mentoring program. And in that program we match all current students with alumni who have graduated in the past ten years, and we match them according to interests and any other factor which we think they might be able to connect upon. In addition, something that we’d like to do eventually is also network with other business schools. We feel that business schools, in general, tend to do a lot of networking in their own school. But we think it would be a great forum to actually reach out to women and other students in other business schools as well and really have another networking opportunity to do that.”

Do you think that it’s important for women to be involved in an organization like yours? “Absolutely—I think as women we, obviously, have different issues than men do when it comes to careers and stuff like that. Families are kind of a big thing that we have to deal with that men necessarily don’t in terms of interrupting our careers. So, I think in that sense this organization is really important. It provides a support network.”

Tuck’s incoming class this year included the highest ever number of women at 33%. Most business schools average around 30% women compared to law school or medical school where women average right around half. Tuck’s Dean, Paul Danos: “The theory on women is that because we require experience, and because the average age is 27, by the time they get out at 29 that is getting close to some limits in terms of their biological clock and having families. That’s a theory. I’m not saying that I espouse that because I don’t really know. I don’t have the empirical evidence that that is the causal factor. That’s one factor that people think could be playing here because women are 50% of the undergraduate majors in business. Many, many schools have undergraduate majors in business and it’s 50% women. So, why is it only 30% in the MBA? A lot of people say it’s because by age 30 a woman has to decide if they’re going to have a family in the traditional way—in the sense of staying home with them. And then, what good is the MBA if you’re going to be having a family? And what I say is the vast majority of women will find a way to make that work, and get back to work within a reasonable period of time, and then they’re going to want to be back on track.”

Tuck has launched its eleven-day “Back in Business” program aimed at returning professionals. Pepperdine Univesity as well is starting up a program in January to accommodate the schedules of at-home moms and others called “Morning MBA”. Again, Dean Danos: “I think often, once they have a family, the culture and society puts pressure on them to stay home. And I think the companies don’t have good systems for giving them flexible ways of staying on track. And, therefore, often they’ll drop out and then they want to come back later. So, I think that’s the pattern that you see. And I think it does depress to some extent the number of women that want to get in at age 28 because they see that coming. So, I think there are a couple of things that could be done. The most important thing is for the employers of these fast-track companies and these high-level companies who hire MBA’s is to create systems that are more flexible in those mid-years—those years in the 30’s. That’s the place where the most improvement could be made. And still we’re going to meet people that are going to want to stay home with families in our culture. There’s no doubt about that. But there are many that would—if they could be flexible for a while—take that, too.”

On campus at Tuck women are the minority. But Tuck’s “Women in Business” Co-chair, Hilary Halper, says she doesn’t notice the imbalance so much. “I think you may notice the difference in that some of the males are more prone to speak up in class, especially, in the first year. I think that changes as we all get to know each other and feel more comfortable. And, as I’ve gone into my second year, I think it’s more equal. Everybody’s speaking up in class. I think that even though there may be fewer women, the kind of force we have on campus is very strong. There are a lot of females in charge of many of the different clubs and we’re a strong presence on campus. So, even though the numbers may be a little lop-sided, I don’t feel as though I’m in a male-dominated world up here.”

Just over 16% of Fortune 500 companies have women as corporate officers. That’s according to Catalyst, a leading researcher of women in the workplace. And only 11 Fortune 500 CEO’s are women. Dean Paul Danos says the low numbers could be tied to the idea that business isn’t compatible with family life. “It certainly isn’t that they don’t get the same opportunities. Last year, our women got exactly the same jobs as our men in terms of salaries and opportunities. The first few years in employment are exactly the same. So, it’s not that. That isn’t a fact that they don’t get the same opportunities. They had the same satisfaction level with the school. There’s no significant difference between the way men feel about the MBA program and their experience and the way women feel about it. Those aren’t the factors. It’s something to do with the perception of the career I think. And, perhaps, it’s something to do with if it’s compatible with family life. Now, why would medicine and law be considered compatible when those professions require just as many hours at work and just as much time away from the family as those in business? I’m not sure why that perception is there, but it seems to be there.”

MBA Diversity’s Keisha Dawn Entzminger says the reason for the low number of top women executives could be that women are going for other types of positions. “I think women are headed for more fulfilling roles—not necessarily executive roles. With the “Green Movement” that we’re in now—focusing on a triple bottom line and social sustainability—you’re seeing a lot of women focusing on non-traditional corporations and opportunities, particularly, in the non-profit realm. I can’t really speak to how the executive pipeline is filling, but I can say that, definitely, the non-traditional, non-profit realm is seeing an increase.”

Tuck’s “Women in Business” Co-chair, Hilary Halper, says the number of top women executives will likely increase in the coming years. Sonali Aggarwal could be one example. Women moving into top positions—that would have meant that 20 years ago they would have had to be on that track. I think that things have changed significantly in recent years. And that, moving forward, we will see more and more women going into those executive positions just because of the way things are today and that more women are being encouraged to take on leadership roles. I would love to be the head of a Fortune 500 company. So, yes, it’s something I’m striving for.”

For more information, advice, and to register for your weekly MBA podcast visit mbapodcaster.com. I’m Janet Nakano and this is MBA Podcaster. Thanks for listening and next time we’ll learn how to put those finishing touches on your application.

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MBA Podcaster is your online source for information, insight, and advice on the MBA admission process. We deliver relevant information and advice through biweekly audio segments for those planning to apply for a Master in Business Administration. Topics include everything from a behind-the-scenes view of the admission process to post-MBA job opportunities and current market trends. Guests include Deans of various business schools, alumni, corporate recruiters, MBA consultants and more. On each segment we go in-depth on a particular topic of interest to an MBA applicant and interview relevant experts to help make your application process more efficient and successful. Listen for this week’s newest topic or browse our archive for the specific information you need to know. Drop us a line and tell us what you’d like to hear: info@mbapodcaster.com